Apparatus for mixing concrete and the like



Nov. 19, 1957 w. H. PARISH 2,813,705

APPARATUS FOR MIXING CONCRETE AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 13, 1954INVENTOR. W/LL/AM H IDA/FISH ATTORNEYS APPARATUS FGR-MIXINGCONCRETE THELIKE William HrParish, Oakland, Calif.

Application'September 13, 1954, serialNo. 455,694

2 Claims. (Cl. 25917.6)

.of concrete work done at any particular time, finds it :economicallyimpractical to acquire such a machine. Therefore, this classof person isusually required to either renta machine or perform the tedious task ofmixing concrete byhand.

Accordingly, it is an object of thepresent invention to provide a simpleapparatus occupying a minimum of space which is adaptedfor.thoroughlyandeasily mixing small batchesofthe component parts of concrete or likematerial intoauniform .consistency.

Anotherobjectof my invention'is to provide a device of the characterdescribed which may .be-produced'at a low cost and which is capable ofeither manual or :mechanical operation.

.A.further object of thisinvention is toprovide concrete-mixingapparatus in which the-parts are all .constructedof: generallyavailablestock material so that the cost ofthe partsandtheassemblythereofmay :be;main- 'tained at a minimum.

A still further object of the invention is to, provide improvedrotatable supporting means fora mixing chamber adapted to contain.material. tobe mixed.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, .someof which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the followingdescription of the preferred form of theiinvention whichisi-llustratedin the drawing .accompanying and forming part of the*specification. It isto be understood, however, that variationsin'Ih6Sh0W- .i-ng made by the said drawing and :descriptionmay'tbeadopted within the scope of the invention as set forth in thev claims.

IRferring to said drawing,

Figure l'is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the apparatus ofthe present invention.

Figure 2 is a top plan view, the plane of the view being generallyindicated by the numerals 2-2 Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a view taken substantially in the plane indicated by theline 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a View similar to Figure 2 but with the concrete mixingchamber removed therefrom in order to more clearly disclose certainfeatures of construction.

As is well known in the art, the job of manually mixing concrete bystirring together the component parts such as sand, gravel, cement, andwater, often requires considerable effort on the part of the operator.In accordance with the teachings of the present invention this task hasbeen materially reduced in effort and the con- 2 .structionpermits evenaperson ofinferior physicalability *to.readily.mix.the componentpartsofthe concrete into a substantially.homogeneous mass .ormixture-withoutre- .quiring :any .expensive::conventional mixingapparatus.

.Broadly speakingtheapparatus of:the present inven- .tion comprises .adrum-like member having an open .top .into .which the .componentpartsofthe mixturezmaybe :introduced, .such member being provided with aplurality of .bafiiesxto .assistin. the stirring thereof. .Thedrum is.arranged .for .rotatable support .on. a plurality of rollers, and asbest illustrated in Figure 1 of the drawing :the .rollersare;positioned..so that .thedrumis inclinedat an angleofaproximately30..degrees from the horizontal while permitting. rotationof the-drum about its longitudinal axis. Rotation .of the .drum,to;effect .the .stirring of the-mixture. may,beaccomplishedv .bymanually rotating. the drum .ormaytbe -etfected mechanically .by means.of a small drive .motor .as .will .be hereinafter more fully,discussed. .Aswill be. understood, by inclining the. drum asindicated,the .ba'fiiesdisposed -within the drum -will :tend .to pick -.upthemateriaLas. thedrum. is. rotated .and drop the material .Idownwardlyand thereby effect a :thorough mixing action.

'The drum, -;generally.indicated :by the.numeral ,6 in the drawing,may,.for. reasons of..econom-y, beconstructed of unconventional1.2-inch diameter paint. can. .or the like. (It will be, seenthat.the.upper openend of the drum is provided with a conventionalbale7..by means of which the drum maylbecar'rield, and.,as-will laterbe.explained,-.also .provides a means formanual rotationof thedrum..Dis-

posed within and secured to the.d1:um..are :a pluralityof baflies 8,here-shown asthreeinnumberwhich extend ;from a pointadjacentthe'longitudinal .center, of the drum .at thebottom thereofttoa;point.substantially medially of. the length of the drum. againsttheside .wallstthereof. More particularly,..the' bafiiesmaybe formed forexample of i l /2 x metal. straps,,and are. flanged. inwardly asindicated by the numeral;9,att.the.,bottom..so. that-the flanges may-beweldednn.otherwisesecured to the bottom Wall 112 voffthetdnum. iThestrap is thenextendedmpwar'dly andradiallyoutwardlyrelative to the:drumtota point a'djacentthe inner. periphery thereof where the distal"en'd'13 .thereof: may belikewise weldeddo the drum pe- "riphery. Withthisconstruction, and: by placing the hafiles Lin,substantially:equal-.spacedrelation, a thorough-mixing action will beieffectedtuponi drumrotation, particularly when the: drumispositionedin the: angular.relationship shown. in. Figure .1.

It-has;.been.found-.-that the,positioning of the .bafiies constitutes animportant part of the design-of the instant unit. As, illustratedintF-igure .3-*of-.t-thezdrawing,:-each of thelbaflieacommences. froman.imaginary small-circle positionedpn. thebottom wall :12 of the.drumzand: extends .upwardly. in :a. direction substantially tangential:to 1 such imaginary circle. -Inother words itqmight;besaid'that each.respective. battle-extends diagonally: upwardly from the'bottom of thepail or drum and results in optimum mixing or agitation of the productsupon drum rotation. It will of course be understood that as the drum ispreferably inclined, the amount of material to be placed therein islimited by the degree of inclination, the upper limit of the materialbeing indicated by the line 10 in Figure 1. As hereinabove mentioned,the drum 6 is adapted for inclined support on a plurality of rollerswhich are preferably carried on a simple plywood or sheet metal frameindicated by the numeral 16. Frame 16 preferably comprises a pair ofside walls 17 and 18 disposed in parallel spaced relationship, each ofsuch Walls having a horizontal flat lower supporting surface 19 and anupper edge portion 21 which may be tapered or inclined at the angle atwhich the drum is desired to be positioned. Extending transversely ofthe side walls 17 and 18 and interconnecting the latter is a pair ofroller support members 23 and 24, the former being positioned adjacentthe leading edge of the side walls and the latter being positionedpreferably intermediate the ends thereof. It will be noted that themembers 23 and 24 each lie in planes generally normal to thelongitudinal axis of the drum when the latter is in operative positionand the lower edges thereof are beveled as indicated at 26 and 27 so asto be horizontally co-planar with the lower edge surfaces 19 of the sidewalls. In this way, it will be appreciated that the frame 16 is adaptedto seat on a horizontal surface with the same tapering as shown inFigure 1 of the drawing.

As best illustrated in Figure 2 of the drawing, support member 23 isprovided adjacent the outer edges thereof with a pair of rollers 28 and29, the rollers being freely journaled on suitable shafts 31 or thelike. Also, the intermediate portion 33 of the member is provided with agenerally circular cut-away portion which permits the drum to overliethe support and engage the rollers 28 and 29. It will of course beunderstood that the arcuate portion 33 is of a larger size than theouter diameter of the drum. In a similar manner the member 24 islikewise provided with an arcuate cut-out portion 34 of a correspondingdiameter to the portion 33, and disposed in opposed relationship to therollers 28 and 29 are a pair of rollers 37 and 38. The latter tworollers may be suitably journaled on stub shafts or the like extendinginwardly from support member 24. A final support roller 41 is mounted onmember 24 adjacent the lowest portion of the cut-out portion 34 and isarranged to en gage the bottom wall 12 of the drum when the latter is inits operative position.

From the foregoing construction, it is believed obvious that the drummay be placed between the side walls 17 and 18 and supported on therollers 28, 29, 37, 38, and

41, with the outer surface of the drum being slightly spaced fromcut-out portions 33 and 34. With such a rotatable support, an operatormay grasp the bale 7 of the drum and by merely twisting the same, causea rotation of the drum on the rollers. The rollers will, of course,maintain the drum in the reclining position illustrated in Figure l andas the drum is rotated on the rollers, the bafiles in the drum willeffect a thorough stirring or mixing of the material placed therein. Ithas been found that with relatively few turns of the drum, thecomponents of a concrete mixture will be thoroughly stirred and permitthe application of the concrete to the form or surface to which it is tobe applied. Also, the bale provides a convenient manner of lifting thedrum out of its supporting frame and rollers after the mixing has beeneffected.

Instead of rotating the drum by means of the bale 7,

wall 17. A shaft 44 of the motor is connected to the roller 37 and inthis instance, in view of the fact that a friction drive is created,roller 37 will be provided with an outer peripheral coating 46 of rubberor similar material having a high coeflicient of friction. In thismanner, when the drum is positioned on the five rollers, the motor maybe actuated causing a rotation of roller 37. As the latter is in firmengagement with the drum by virtue of the weight of the latter, the drumwill be rotated at the approximate speed of rotation of the roller 37and the contents thoroughly agitated and mixed. As will be noted, merelyone roller may be driven by the motor as there will always be asufficient force between the drum and roller to effect rotation of thedrum, although naturally, if desired, additional rollers could likewisebe driven by the motor 43. Preferably, it will be one of the rollers onthe support 24 that is utilized for the driving roller as the weight ofthe drum and its contents will be more effectively positioned on such aroller.

From the foregoing description it will be appreciated that while thedevice of the instant invention is very simple in construction andoperation, it fulfills a need long established by persons desiring tomix a small quantity of concrete or the like, and may be produced at acost sufficiently low to permit the average home owner to use the same.

I claim:

1. Apparatus of the character described comprising a drum in which theingredients for concrete and the like may be inserted, means forsupporting said drum, said means including a frame-like structure havinga pair of side walls and a pair of transversely extending wallsinterconnecting said side Walls, all of said walls having substantiallyhorizontally disposed coplanar bottom surfaces, said transverselyextending members having arcuate cutout portions of diameters largerthan the diameter of said drum, each of said transverse walls beingfurther provided with a pair of rollers Whose outer peripheral surfacesthereof extend beyond said cut-out portion whereby such surfaces maysupport said drum placed thereon, another roller carried by one of saidtransverse members having an axis substantially normal to the axes ofsaid first mentioned rollers for supporting and engaging the bottom wallof said drum, said rollers being positioned so that said drum will besupported in said frame on said rollers with the longitudinal axis ofsaid drum being disposed at an inclined angle relative to said bottomsurfaces of said walls.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which said inclined angle isapproximately 30 degrees.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS265,064 Hays Sept. 26, 1882 1,475,904 Vandenplas Nov. 27, 1923 1,940,492Gale Dec. 19, 1933 2,395,593 Trager Feb. 26, 1946 2,478,408 LightburnAug. 9, 1949 2,599,852 McClain July 10, 1952

